challenged for the present Church of this Age or else there is no visible Infallible Judg and so the matter comes to nothing For if they were affixed to the Church of any one Age then our Faith when that Age is expired must resolve it self some other way as we shall see anon This hint being given we proceed in search of this Infallibility which is indeed a safe Basis to rest upon whereever it is found In the first place therefore we must enquire what it is or what is to be understood by it Infallibility properly taken is the knowledge of all things He that does not know every thing may be mistaken in some thing and he that may be mistaken in any thing is not Infallible To know all things is to be Omniscient and so God alone who created every thing by virtue of his own Infinity is absolutely Infallible But for created Beings their Knowledge is confined to such things as the wise Creator has placed within their Capacities and so made knowable as it were by Nature Therefore in other things which are Supernatural and of which we can know no more than is revealed to us Infallibility means a being preserved from all Errour and Mistake about them and by Consequence must it self be a Supernatural and Divine quality imparted according to the good Will and Pleasure of God. And now our Business is come to this to know first Whether any body or no has this Infallibility Secondly if any body has it where he or they are to be found And thirdly how others may be assured that they who pretend to have it have it indeed First Whether any body has this Infallibility I take it for granted upon the foregoing Proofs that it is a Divine Supernatural Gift and being such that it must issue from the good Pleasure of God. Now any Gift whatsoever which is Arbitrary and Depending upon the Will of any one cannot be pretended to in Reason till he in whose Power it is has made his Will known that the Right and Possession of it pass over to him that Claims it In like manner no Divine Gift which concerns more than them who personally pretend to it can have any weight or force without a Divine Testimony to ensure its own Credit Upon this Point the Papists argue That Christ who was not less able or faithfull than Moses in his house would not leave his Church destitute of sufficient means for Peace and Unity 't is granted But then say they without an Infallible Guide beside the Scripture there can be neither reason for Faith nor ground for Peace among Christians A bold Assumption this Nay farther 't is said That Christ has promised to teach his Church all Truth by special Assistance of the Holy Ghost to the end of the World. This indeed is to the Purpose but that if any thing it proves more than they wish For it does as much prove all Christians to be Infallible as one or more For the Promise being indefinite cannot justly be appropriated to particulars and if it contains perpetual Infallibility let them that can shew from that Promise that the Pastors have more right to it than the People But suppose now there is Infallibility in the Church let us see whereabouts it is Lodged that we may have recourse to it to end the Disputes which have so long disturbed the Peace of Christendom For if it cannot be found we shall hardly be made to grant that there is any such thing or if it cannot be come at we shall value it at the rate of all useless things I ask therefore Where this Infallibility is that has been so much talked of Why some have shewed their good will to fix it to the Popes of Rome And one would at first think the Author who represents a Papist looked that way when he told us he did not doubt but God assists them the Popes with a particular helping Grace such as was given to all the Prophets when they were sent to Preach that was Extraordinary Such as was given to Moses when he was made a God to Pharaoh that was Miraculous Sure he forgot the Lives of some Popes or else some late Pope has divided the Sea or turned a River into Blood and so filled him with Wonder that he never thought to make any Reflexions Lastly with such Grace as was given to Caiaphas when he prophesied that Jesus should dye for that Nation A Truth which he utter'd without any good Design as appears by his Sentence afterwards and this instance indeed might well fit Pope Greg. 7. Yet after all this we are told that it is our Choice Whether we will allow the Pope to be personally Infallible or no And if they do not see reason enough to believe it I am sure I do not and so the Pope's Claim must be dismissed as indefensible But is a Council without him then Infallible If it be what becomes of the Pope's Supremacy For whereever Infallibility goes the Supremacy touching matters of Faith must go with it And they cannot be separated since as we shewed above the one has its whole dependance upon the other This difficulty has been apprehended and so to secure the Pope's Supremacy a Council without him has been judged not Infallible And where any Council has wanted the Pope's Confirmation as we see for matter of fact it has been thought to want Authority to Though for all this the Point of Supremacy of how great importance soever is not well agreed among them for Councils have taken upon them to depose the Pope and the French Roman Catholick Divines allow them in it The only expedient in this Case is what some lay down That a Council assembled by and under the Pope whose Authority must confirm their Decrees is Infallible Being come to this as the last effort we will proceed with a regard due to a Tenet of such moment And here I ask again Whether every Bishop and Devine that Debates and Votes in Council be Infallible No this must not be said because there have beeen great Differences among the Divines and contrary Opinions much urged Besides it would make every Bishop as absolute as the Pope to make him Infallible which would quite undo the pretences of the Church of Rome But then if every Bishop in Council be not Infallible for ought I can see this Infallibility must be given to the Pope And if his approbation be indeed necessary to Authorize their Decrees he has e'en most right to it For if the Authentickness of the Decrees depends upon the Pope 't is plain he must have a Negative vote to the Council and if he has a Negative vote to the Council either he must have this Infallibility or there can be none at all of any use But as to the Pope's being Infallible we were told before it is no Article of Faith and so we are at Liberty from them to believe it or
let it alone Though to say the Truth if I had been told the contrary the Errors which some Popes have fallen into would have hindred me in despite of any good will from owning him so Is this Infallibility shared among them so that every one has some For Infallibility they must have or their Authority is lost No this cannot be neither for Infallibility is a Quality that cannot be divided or enjoyed to the halfs And if it could it would not do the business for then they would be Fallible in part as well as Infallible in part And so we should be as hard put to it to find which part their Infallibility reaches to as we are to find that they have any at all Here peradventure it may be thought because it has been said heretofore That though the Pope and his Council may be Fallible in their Arguments and Discourses yet in the Result of them viz. their Definitions which only concern the Church they are Infallible This indeed is to the purpose if it could be as easily proved as said But since neither Art nor Nature does allow an Infallible Conclusion to issue from Fallible Means it must be wholly Supernatural and Divine And so we are come in the third place to ask How they came by a Power to make the Conclusion Divine the Means being Humane or How they will make it appear to me or any Man else that they are endued with such a Power Certainly a Claim so bold as this ought to be very well made out But here alass we are turn'd over to Motives of Credibility which are sometimes called the marks of the Church however we will see what can be made of them By Motives of Credibility must be meant such as may work upon my Reason and so incline my Mind to believe or assent to any thing for a Truth and so I can be induced to believe no farther than the point is made Credible to me Well but whatever is Supernatural can never work upon my Reason as being quite above it without some Divine Evidence and Testimony and that must either be Miracles or Scripture For Miracles they have of late been little pretended to But from Scripture they tell us Christ has promised to his Church a perpetual Assistance of his Grace yea such a measure of the Spirit as made Caiaphas prophesy Truth almost whether he would or no. But how can they pretend Scripture in this Case who have told us we must receive the Sense and Interpretation of Scripture from the Infallible Authority of the Church And that not in a few Points but in every Doubt and never presume upon our own private Sentiments howsoever seemingly grounded on Reason and Scripture If we must thus absolutely depend upon the Authority of the Church for the Interpretation of Scripture then the Authority of the Church must be better known to us than the Sense of the Scripture And if it be better known it cannot be proved by Scripture for every thing that proves another must it self be more evident And if the Churches Authority cannot be proved by Scripture it can never be proved without Miracles and by consequence can never be believed But if Christians must read and judg of Scripture and believe it in this Point I can see no reason why they may not in every one else that concerns Religion since there are few Points in it that are not much more cleary expressed Here Traditions would put in to help out But to spoil all we are told we must receive them too upon the Authority of the Church for it would be as dangerous to trust the World with a liberty of judging Traditions as of judging Scripture and more contests there are and would be about them And yet which is an insuperable Difficulty Tradition is silent in many Points of the Romish Faith nay in all whereabout any Difference is I mean as to the Primitive Church and sure Tradition cannot be produced where there is none If Tradition could be produced still the Difficulty returns That Tradition would be more manifest and therefore above the Churches Authority And how acceptable a Point that is at Rome Mr. White and Mr. Serjeant could have told at their own Cost But though Scripture and Tradition are insufficient perhaps Succession may make out this Matter or else why are we so often told of it and truly I must needs say I do not know why we are For if they mean a Succession of Bishops that can prove nothing to Rome because it is common to other Churches who have as undoubted a Succession as they If they mean a Succession of Doctrin from the Apostles to us 't is what we allow and for want of it refuse those other Doctrins they would impose There is behind a very forcible Argument to prove That the Pope and his Council together are not Infallible or that the Papists themselves do not think them so I Instance in the Lateran Council under Pope Innocent the III. where it was decreed that Princes may be Deposed He that Represents a Papist answers That this is no Article of Faith and that they are not bound to believe it But if this be not to be believed it is because the Truth of it is not evident enough and if it be not evident enough it must be because the Churches proposing or decreeing is not sufficient to make it evident which is the Point I aim at If he will as some have acknowledge the deposing Doctrin to be true let the World consider what kind of Subjects those must be that are in such a Communion and if he disavows it he makes it appear that he does not think their Church Infallible Nor can I think that Church has sufficiently cleared it self from the Charge of this Doctrin which some of them call a Calumny till it be as Publickly and Authoritatively Repealed as it was Decreed Nor can I imagine how that Author could tell us in the fourteenth Chapter of his Book that he thought himself obliged not to rely on his own private Judgment but upon the Authority of the Church in any Doubt and yet in the twentieth Chapter of the same Book tells us in Consequence what the Church has peremptorily Decreed is not to be believed I am sorry when that Decree passed such a powerfull Measure of the Spirit which made Caiaphas Prophesie was absent And since it was so then I do not see how they can reasonably presume he was not absent in other Points too Damnation being so particularly denounced against Rebellion we cannot think that a Point so inconsiderable as to be passed by in advertency It now plainly appears that this Challenge of Infallibility is very unaccountable and to shew its absurdity yet more you shall see that though we should grant as we do not that they have Infallibility some where yet in the resolution of Faith it would be useless The Church at this day is vexed
and divided by many Heresies and contrary Opinions How must the Truth be cleared and Peace be restored to Christendom By the Churches Authority say the Papists But it has been proved that the Churches Authority extends no farther than she has Infallibility and the Pope being not Infallible alone and their being no Council assembled under him the present Church has no Infallibility and so by Consequence no Authority to determine Controversies about Faith. Peradventure it will be said the Council which sat in the last Age defined all Points and so determined our Faith. I answer That what that Council defined is one thing and its setling Faith and determining Controversies appears by the effect to be another It will be said it determined all but what Pride and Obstinacy still kept on foot But if Controversies still remain whether from Pride or Heretical-pravity or from any other Cause whatever it matters not Why should the Scripture be taxed as insufficient to be a Rule of Faith for not effecting what their Infallibility cannot bring to pass Sure there is no reason why it should Well but for obstinate and prejudiced Persons we will set them aside and see what can be done for inquisitive People such as are Willing to be Convinced what shall these do They tell us They must be guided by the Definitions and Decrees of the last General Council assembled at Trent But how shall they be ascertained that they have a true Copy of the Acts of that Council For upon occasion Suppositious Canons have been alledged by the Church of Rome The Authority of the present Church cannot do it as you may conclude from that which has already been said besides it is the thing in Question However suppose from the Testimony of the present Church witnessing though not authorising and by such Methods as we receive the Works of other Writers we should admit the Acts of the Council of Trent to be truly derived to us What shall we do to attain the true Sense and Meaning of them without which they can signifie nothing And to shew you that this is no Captious Question some great Men among them have interpreted that Councils Decrees very differently And the late Representer of a Papist has construed them in a Sense very wide from what some eminent Doctors long since gave of them Are we not now in a fair way for Peace and Unity After all if so many Difficulties surround the Learned what shall Women do and such as only understand their Mother Tongue I can meet with no Answer to this but that the Learned must with honest Minds and just Diligence search out the Sense of the Churches Definitions and from them must those of less Judgment and meaner Capacities receive it But if the matter must rest here for my Life I cannot see why the like Care and Pains should not bring a Man to the true Sense of the Scripture as well as of a Council 'T would be an ill Reflection upon God's Wisdom to say he ordered his Will to be written but not so intelligible as human Writings And if there be some who for want of Ability in themselves must rest their Faith upon other Mens Judgments I do not see why the Clergy of the Church of England may not as well be relied on as the Priests of the Church of Rome since the World has no reason to think them less Learned or less Sincere The Church of England among all impartial Men has this manifest advantage that She derives Her Faith from Scripture not fancifully Interpreted but Expounded to a Sense which the Text reasonably leads to And to strengthen Her Exposition She takes in the Testimony of the Church in Her four first General Councils Not that She rests upon an Authority in them but She takes them as Witnesses to shew that in Her Interpretation She is neither Singular nor Private Thus in short a Member of the Church of England proceeds He is certain his Faith is right and true because it is founded as to its Object upon the Will of God. He is certain it stands upon the Will of God because it stands upon the Word of God. He is certain it is built upon the Word of God because it is built upon the Scripture He is certain the Scripture is the Word of God because the Prophets Evangelists and Apostles that wrote it were Divinely Inspired And he is made certain that they were Divinely Inspired by the Divine Testimony of Miracles which God gave them Nor lastly can he doubt but whatsoever God sets his Seal to is Truth for he will not he cannot Lye or Deceive If he be asked how he knows these Books to be Written by those Inspired Men to whom they are attributed He Answers for that he has an universal Testimony of Friends and Enemies through all Ages Which is as good an Evidence as a Matter of Fact can bear or does require and when he reads them he is farther Confirm'd by finding them so admirably Compiled and Suited to that Character If he be asked how he attains the right Sense of them He answers by using due Attention and an unprejudiced Mind with such other helps as are fit for that Purpose he gains as great Certainty of the true meaning of Scripture as Sense and Reason can bear in an ordinary Capacity I mean as far as concerns the Articles of Faith summ'd into his Creed and is as safe in this Resolution as was the Primitive Church with which he agrees More than this he does not apprehend necessary After this since the Papists have taxed our Faith as wavering and uncertain how unjustly you may easily discern I might here make them a Requital by telling the World that upon their own Principles they can have no Faith at all For if what Faith they have arises from the Churches Authority then if the Church has no Authority they can have no Faith. But I have proved before the Church can have no such Authority because it has not Infallibility and it cannot reasonably pretend to Infallibility because it can make no Evidence of it and without Evidence no Man can believe But God forbid I should say or think they have no Faith I only offered this to shew the weakness and insufficiency of the Principles they go upon and what little Reason they have to charge us And now to that Question so often asked By what Authority we depart from the Faith of the Church of Rome I answer by an Authority which is inseparable from the Mind of every Man to refuse to believe any thing for which he has not a Reason to him sufcient indeed no Man can believe without it For the Mind of Man is so disposed as to Truth that it immediately imbraces it and closes with it as soon as ever it discerns it But if the Mind discerns no Truth in a Proposition it cannot assent to it whatever Profession the Man makes The Church of Rome
A SHORT DISCOURSE Concerning the Churches Authority IN MATTERS of FAITH Shewing that the PRETENSES OF THE Church of Rome ARE WEAK and PRECARIOUS In the Resolution of it LICENSED March 8. 1686. LONDON Printed for Randal Taylor near Stationers-hall 1687. THE PREFACE FInding that in our Modern Controversies with the Church of Rome which are Printed and in Discourses with those of that Communion they make their Retreat almost upon all Accounts to the Churches Authority either as a Point that may be most Colourably defended or which lazy and weak Heads most readily take up with I was induced to examin it Safety and Certainty are things very valuable not only because they carry a delightfull correspondency to our Minds but also for the respect they have to the Time before us which in Prudence we must provide for no Condition being so uneasy and disgracefull as when a Man comes to proclaim his own Folly by saying Who thought of this Such as our Interest at stake is such ought our Care to be that we may not be imposed upon by Pretences It argues a degenerous Mind that rests it self upon that which comes next hand But not to inlarge this Preface I will only say a very few Things concerning Faith for which Church-Authority is pretended as a Ground Faith is often in Scripture put to signify Religion and in that Sense it implies not only those Things which a Christian must know and believe but also the applying the Mind to them in all Obedience and Humility not excluding the assistance of Grace which subdues the perversness of our Wills and thus with a particular Propriety it may be styled the Gift of God. But in this following Discourse as sometimes in Scripture Faith more especially means that Act or Operation of the Mind whereby it imbraces those Things which are sufficiently Proposed to it And as Truth is more or less apparent so the Mind is more or less firmly united to it Not that the Object of our Faith has in it any Vncertainty but that our Prejudices and Passions our Interests and Pleasures by which our Wills are warped and made stubborn hinder the Mind from apprehenâ—ing Truth These false Biasses too often â—â—nfound our Reasonâ—ngs and misguide our Minds And heâ—ce it comes to pass as the Scripture observes that Faith in some is Weak in all capable of Increase 'T is manifest the Mind may discern Truth so as to be certain of it but still a Corrupt Will may as it were unhinge the Judgment and make its adherence less firm This was well enough observed by him that lately wrote the History of the Life of Christ That Faith which springs from the Evidence of Sense or from clear Demonstration must needs be of small Esteem and Reward with God. St. Thomas was Checked for not believing without it and the Parable tells us if Moses and the Prophets could not Convince neither would they be perswaded though one rose from the Dead Now if the Churches Authority be that which our Faith may resolve into the Assent of the Mind would in all Points be equally Firm and Clear and so Faith would be Equal in all annd capable of Improvement in none Plain it is that the design of Religion is to bring Men to a right apprehension and belief of God and to ingage them to a holy and vertuous Life in conformity to such an Idea of that pure and perfect Being He that has not a Mind so disposed will never be influenced by an Infallible Guide and he that has an humble Mind and teachable Spirit will need none However I am sure he that will not be satisfied without one must go farther than Rome to find him But this grows too fast for a Preface therefore I will only tell you that I have purposely avoided a multitude of Citations because they have more or less Authority as People please but I have proceeded by the weights and moments of Reason which are equally valuable to all A SHORT DISCOURSE Concerning the Churches Authority IN MATTERS of FAITH IT is a fundamental Maxim and of unquestionable Authority in Nature That Truth is always and every where one and the same So that among the various Opinions in the World but one of them can be right Upon which account Schism with its ill Consequences is on all sides much lamented whilest every body thinks he has the Truth and Peace and Unity in pretence at least much desired But the misery is all would have them upon their own terms and that frustrates their desires Controversies therefore still depending and the Points under debate being of such importance that the Party which affirms them makes the believing them to be a necessary Condition of Catholick-Communion and damns them that refuse them while the Party that denies says they run a manifest hazard that imbrace them It cannot be thought unfit for any Man to inquire after a method which may bring these Disputes to an issue or that may keep in Peace and Quietness the Minds and Consciences of Christians while Pride Interest or Prejudice shall keep open the Breach or maintain the Quarrel Nothing is more Natural and Congenial to Mankind than Truth and the desire of it is implanted in the hearts of all Men an impartial search after it therefore is what all Men are bound to And as Salvation is the End in Common aimed at by all so it highly concerns-every Christian to examin the way by which he goes toward that End and he ought to inquire the more Cautiously and Diligently for that the ways proposed for attaining Salvation are Many and Different And those that go one Way will hardly allow Safety to them that take another And this at present is the Case between the Papists and the Protestants which invite Men to each others Communion as safer and better for attaining Eternal Happiness Every Man has a Soul to be saved and what must be done to inherit Eternal Life is an Enquiry every one in the World ought and I hope most Christians do make for themselves For since our first Parents by their Disobedience incurred Death to themselves and their Posterity Salvation is what by Nature we could neither Claim nor Expect But that the Devil might not triumph in an absolute Conquest over so glorious a part of the Creation as Mankind God of his infinite Mercy was pleased to enter into a Second Covenant with Men in order to their Salvation but this upon Condition of Faith and Repentance on our parts to answer the Salvation proposed and offered on his Now this Covenant being an Act of meer Grace issuing purely from the good Pleasure of God it is very plain Mankind can know no more of this Covenant nor of the Conditions of it than God himself has been pleased to Reveal and Discover So that all Questions and Disputes about our Common Salvation must be brought to this one as the Standard of all viz. Whether it be the
has not sufficiently proved the Doctrins in dispute betwixt us and that if we had no more would be Authority enough for us to refuse them and depart from her since She will not receive us to Communion but upon Conditions which they cannot make out to be reasonable unless we grant that false Supposition of Infallible Authority They ask farther who is to be Judg of the Controversies and Reasonings between us I answer every Man must for himself For as every Man must believe so every Man must have a Reason why he believes and sure every one must be a Judg of his own Reason whether he be Convinced or no. We are told That then there will be Heresies and Schisms it is true there are so and for ought I see will be so still But that 's no more than the Apostle told the Corinthians must be that those which are approved may be made manifest The Church of Rome may appear yet more unequal in Her Pretences for that She advances a Doctrin which cannot be believed even by those who pay the utmost deference to her Authority and that is Transubstantiation which implies several Contradictions Some that own the Churches Infallible Authority and are resolved to rest upon it may so overrule their Minds as to keep them from considering or thinking upon that Doctrin and so for the time do not as it were disbelieve it but whenever they come to weigh it their Minds cannot imbrace it because there can be no Reason for a Contradiction For sure Church Authority cannot go on where the Power of God ceases If it be said it is only a Contradiction in appearance that comes to the same thing for 'till it can be made not to seem a Contradiction it must have the same effect upon all Mens Minds as upon ours who know it to be really a gross one And this makes me sensible That it is a greater absurdity to believe as they say implicitly or indefinitly as the Church believes when a Man considers not what that is than to Pray implicitly or in a general intention with the Church when one knows not what the Church Prays for It being absurd to say a Man believes any thing which the Mind does not particularly imbrace or apply it self to and the Mind cannot be said to imbrace that which it thinks or knows nothing of Here it must not be forgotten that I am not speaking of the Habit but the Acts of Faith. Nor do the Principles I have laid down oblige me to think every one has alwas a true ground for his Faith. I doubt not but many believe upon inducements that would if examined be found Slender and Disproportionate for such it is their good fortune if they believe aright but if they are in the wrong they must answer for not taking greater Care. But if they have used their utmost Care and Diligence and yet continue in the wrong we may leave them without any desperate apprehension to the mercy of God. Most of the Points about which we differ with Rome have been discussed in particular Treatises and so I will meddle little with them having from the first designed in chief to consider the grounds of Faith. I would here have taken leave but that I am stayed with a Pretence That the Faith which we own we had from the Church of Rome I will not here inquire into the merits of this Pretence but examin what use they make of it Suppose now we had the Scripture and the Creeds from them what follows Why then they would have us receive all the rest of their Additional Articles too Indeed if we had received all we believe upon their Churches Authority it had been a better inference But they know we did not receive any Articles upon any Authority but the Reason of them and therefore where that ends our Faith stops and we receive no more They would it seems prescribe and supposing we imbrace some Truths which they pretend to have delivered to us would have us entertain whatever else they offer This is very strange indeed If any one hearing the Devils declaring Jesus Christ to be the Son of God as the Gospel tells us they did should have believed him so and Tertullian we know made it a great Argument and appealed to the Heathens upon it when the Devils made Confession must they therefore have believed all the Devils said at any time because they saw reason to believe what they said some times 'T would have been a strange Case with Religion unless Men had been assured the Devil's inclinations to deceive should have always been overruled and they like Caiaphas should have been made to speak Truth whether they would or no. In like manner to have received some Truths from the Church of Rome can be no reason why we should believe others Thus far I have considered the Grounds of Faith and shewed the Weakness and Insufficiency of those Means which the Church of Rome takes to resolve it by I pray God by his Grace so to inlighten the Understandings and dispose the Wills of all Christians that they may heartily endeavor the Peace and Unity of the Church by an humble and impartial Enquiry after Truth the only Way effectually to bring it about Popery has of late been Expounded to a more favourable Sense and Represented in a less formidable Dress than it wore heretofore And so far am I from being angry at it that I am heartily glad hoping it may tend to the Scattering those thick Mists of Prejudice and Ignorance that have obscured the Truth and hindred many from discerning it I only wish they would manifest the Sincerity of their Representation by a Practice answerable to it They took away the Scriptures from some least in reading they should misinterpret it And I wish they would take away Images which have been horribly misunderstood since they now tell the World they think them but as Books to instruct the Ignorant and honorary Remembrances to the Learned This would be one reasonable and fair Step toward restoring Peace and healing the Schism And since we are told that no Power upon Earth can limit alter or annul any Precept of Divine Institution contrary to the Intention of the Law-giver a Position highly reasonable we expect the Cup should be given to all of the Communion seeing that our Saviour instituted and gave that as well as the Bread. And after his Institution the same Night that he was betrayed I cannot find that he made the least Alteration To say our Saviour had no Mind that should be done which he appointed would be very absurd Therefore what he once instituted must continue in force as his Mind still unless they can shew that he altered it and this would be another good Step toward our Union They have now reduced their praying to Saints departed to a desire only that the Blessed would assist them with their Prayers to God as we desire good